June 2015 Prayer Letter

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First Pastor’s Retreat
Our first pastor’s retreat was hosted last month in a little town outside of PE, called Addo. It was a great success. Bekah and I were encouraged, as was I’m sure everyone who attended. Over the two days, Kevin, Mark and I (along with our wives) taught several classes to the young pastors and their wives, who attended; definitely something that will be repeated annually.

Trip to Cape Town:
Also last month, the whole family had to make a trip to Cape Town to renew our passports. Surprisingly, the kids handled the 17 hour drive exceptionally well. While we were there we had the opportunity to preach and teach at Lighthouse Baptist Church started by Missionary Larry Nelson. The believers there were very welcoming. During our stay they took our family in like their own.

Visitor in PE:
At present, we have veteran Missionary Randy Stirewalt visiting with us. He is here to help us organize and plan for future expansion of our ministry here in South Africa. His 37 years of experience church planting in Africa, along with the 260+ churches started from his ministry, gives him a wealth of knowledge to share. We are extremely blessed to have him.

Language Studies:
Though we have had to take a couple of weeks off from our language studies, we are still managing to progress some. We have continued assisting with teaching Sunday School and offering devotions at Madiba Bay BC as we have been available. Our classes will continue to be sporadic until the middle of next month due to visitors.

More Highlights and Prayer Requests:

  • There have been several people saved over the past few weeks at Madiba Bay Baptist Chruch. Two new guys you can begin to pray with us for are Songeza (14) and Mfundo (17). These are two very bright young men that we are expecting God to use.
  • Tomorrow we have a new intern family arriving, the Josh Sullivan family. They will be staying here with us for 6 months. Please pray for them as they adjust.
  • Rebekah and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on the 30th of May. You’ll have to go to my Facebook page to see what an awesome woman does for her husband on their anniversary.
  • Thank you to “The Baptist Men” of West Corinth Baptist Church for their generous donation to our building project. The flat is almost complete; we are only lacking $1300 to finish.

Thanks again for all you do!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall

Coffey Family May 2015 Prayer Letter

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Our first pastors retreat in the little town of Addo was a great success.  We had a wonderful time with our team of missionaries and pastors.  The classes were a big help in encouraging everyone to keep their eye on the mark.  It’s amazing how easily distracted one can get when doing the  Lord’s work. 

This week, Missionary Randy Stirewalt from Kenya was able to visit and teach several classes for our Bible institute.  Brother Stirewalt has served in Kenya for over 38 years and has been involved in starting over 260 churches in Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan.  We have been blessed to glean from his vast experience in ministry.  He has been a tremendous help in the plans of our Bible college, and will be helping as we setup the struture and curriculum. 

Please pray for the Josh Sullivan Family who arrives this week for a 6 month internship.  As they train for the field on the field, we pray God uses them in a mighty way during their time here in South Africa.

We pray God brings more young people just like the Sullivan’s here to South Africa for training.  I’m thankful to be a part of a team who has a burden to help young people to find their place in world evangelism. 

Prayer Request

  • The start of Bay Baptist College
  • More laborers
  • Pastor Sipho and his family as we work together at New Life Baptist Church.
  • Language learning
  • Plans for ministry expansion in the next few months

More Highlights

  • Akeme Ubom, pre-med student from North Ga University, visited this month and was a great blessing to all our families and churches. 
  • 4 teems came to church and made professions after Akeme preached at Tamsanqa High School
  • Hannah Peabody from Fellowship Baptist in Maryville, Ga arrives June 2nd for a one month internship

Needs 

  • $1300 to finish the electric work for the pastor house at Madiba Bay Baptist Church
  • $1000 to finish the plumbing at Madiba as well

Pray for Lungisa High School

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Sipho and I had the privilege to speak to the students at Lungisa High School this past week.  Lungisa High School is a public high school very close to our church.  We now have an open door to come and spend time with the students during their lunch break each week.  This is a great opportunity for us to be able to impact many young people with the truth of the Gospel.

 

The Church Building Open and Ready for Use

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On January 22nd, the construction began for New Life Baptist Church Kwadwesi.  Other than lacking a few doors, electricity, and water, the building is ready for use.  Well, we’re going to use it anyway:)  We will be having our first service in the main auditorium this morning, April 19th at 10am.  I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support during this building project.  The money for building came in just in time, even when I underestimated the cost or had surprise expenses.  I praise the Lord, there is a lighthouse in the Kwadwesi area of Port Elizabeth, South Africa to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Continue to pray as we seek to reach the lost and train young men for the ministry.

New Life Kwadwesi Building Update

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Our building is progressing nicely.  We are still hoping to have our first service on April 5th, Easter Sunday morning, but we’re cutting it very close.  The I-Beam we need for the main floor won’t be available until Wednesday, at the earliest.  Without the I-Beam we can’t finish the main floor.

This past we we did experience our first break-in.  Someone tried to break in through one of our new windows.  With no success, they bust in through the new door.  We paid one of the workers to spend the night there, but he decided to skip that night.  Unfortunately, all of our builders tools were stolen, and the window and door need to be replaced.

I’m glad to know the roof is almost finished and hopefully water and electricity will be connected this week.  Overall this has been a great building experience with very little interruption.

Thank you all for you prayers and support.

More Building

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Here lately, I’ve felt that most of my life has been about building projects, which for me isn’t a bad thing. I love building, or better said, I love organizing the building and watching others build.  It’s been neat seeing the walls go up on New Life Baptist Church.  We are hoping to have the building ready for services by April 5th/ Easter Day.

This past week we started another building project at Madiba Bay Baptist Church.  This project is to supply housing for Pastor Lubabalo and his family.

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For almost a year, this family of 4 has been living in 2 small rooms in the church.  The new addition attached to the church will provide Lubabalo’s family with 2 bedrooms, bath, kitchen, and a good size living area.  Along with providing this family with a nice living space, two more badly needed Sunday school rooms will be available for the church to use when they move out.  If you would like to have a part in this project here is a breakdown of the expenses.

Plumbing- $1,345

Electrical- $1,318

Labor for walls & roof- $2,197

Materials- $2,164 rand  (Blocks, brink, cement, sand, etc)

Roof- $870

Total- $7,894

Below are the two rooms they are currently living in.

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Building without Delay

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Over the past two weeks, $15, 600 came in to help with the building of New Life Baptist Church.  This has enabled us to continue building without any major delays.  We are grateful to those who gave, and want to thank the Lord for bringing the funds in so quickly.  We are hoping and feel pretty certain, with these funds, we will be able to complete the first phase of the building.  This first phase will give us space for our first auditorium, 4 Sunday school classes, two bathrooms, and also supply housing for my assistant.  I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed by the sacrificial giving of God’s people with this project.

February 2015 Update

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Dear Pastor and Friends,        

The most exciting thing that took place since our last updated happened just a few days ago. My wife was able to witness, in Xhosa, to the lady who watches our kids during the day, Mama Khunjuzwa. After two week of going over salvation, Mama K was born again! She is a 51 year old lady who has attended church all of her life, and from her own testimony, never heard a clear presentation of the gospel until now. Please pray for Rebekah and her as they continue with some foundational lessons. Pray that she will come to our church and begin to get grounded in the word and connected with other believers.

Our Pastor, Wayne Cofield and his wife were with us for two weeks last month. During his stay he preached and taught 18 different times. One of those times was at a street soccer evangelistic out-reach we started in our church parking lot. There was an incredible turn out for our first weekend. Around 150-175 youth, and young men showed up. Pastor Cofield preached the first message and 6 young men made professions of faith. We are looking forward to using this to draw the attention of many more and share the gospel.

934771_10152680820751728_7108399752972099979_nThis is the foundation, slab and beginning of the walls for New Life Baptist Church. I can’t tell you how excited we are to see this progressing. Individuals and churches have given generously to make this happen. We were recently given $3,600 from our home church to begin building the walls. Since then, another individual has given close to $10,000! Hopefully our teammates, Mark Coffey and Sipho Bonga, will be meeting in this building within two months. God is faithful and has provided for His work! 

Future Events and Prayer Requests:

  • We are planning now for our first ever pastors retreat. We have a location and dates, May 17-19. Please begin to pray with us that this would be a profitable time for our team.
  • Also, planning has begun for our first youth camp. We’ve separated a camp for Dec 6-12. We are hoping to have 136 campers (and no more b/c there is no more space). If you would be interested in helping a camper make it to camp, the cost will be R700.00 or $65 per person for the week. 
  • Please continue to pray for us with language learning.

Thanks again for all you do and may God bless you richly!

Sincerely,

Jeremy and Rebekah Hall